Cover for a hood compartment of drophead motorcar bodies



J. H. ORR

June 3, 1952 COVER FOR A HOOD COMPARTMENT OF DROPHEZAD MOTORCAR BODIES 9 4 9 1 4 2 t C o d e l i F INVENTOR. Mai/IV H Qfi Patented June 3, 1952 COVER. FOR A HQ OD COMPARTMEN T" DROBHE'AD MOTORCAR BODIES John Hewitt 0rr;.Coventry, England, assignor tw Garhofliestliimited, Coventry, England Application October 24, 1949", SerialNo. 123,240

The invention relates toa body of a drop-head motor-cam. oi" the kind which-is provided. withia compartment: in the form ofia'well (which, in plan,-

U -shapedkit e;, extending across the" back';-and partway'round the sidesLof' thepassen ger compartmentl for receiving thenheadt when 1owered, the bottom edge of thezheadfabric (atleast at therream being secured toianfixed', or to. a retractable;waistvv rail adj acentithe outer: edge; of the well; and the inner: edge: of thewell at the rear beingformed: by the: bacleofl theaadjacent seat, whichi latter can, imsome instances, be, hingedsfor: movement "forwardly out of engage- 1 ment; with: a; stop: means;

Itis thezmain objectof the invention to provide means forzimproving theappearance of avbody of the kindlset; forth when the I head has; been: r.e'-' tracted; into the well;

According to the present: invention: there: is provided a. cover;v for the, headrreceiving: well of amotor-car body of thekind set forth;;including. a: rigid; flap supported adj acent two; opposite edges;. respectively, from therseatback and-.from

the= outerredge: of: thewell at the rear for bridging the rear-cf. the; well, the, flapbeing movable into an uncovering position for enabling thehead to be moved into and out of the well, and the flapserving; :as a shelf for the reception of small articles when thehead is. in theerected position.

Thmfiap; canibei hinged at its forward edge (and on. ahorizontal. axis) to, or adjacent the upper edge of the seattback so asvto be movable to and from the position in which itbridges the top of the well';,the-rear-edge of the flap, when the-latter isz'in its: bridging position, resting on the outer edge-of the well at the rear.

Alternativelyythe flapcan-be provided with one onmore hinge elements; for coaction with a like number ofcomplementary hinge elements adjacent theouter edge of the, well at the rear (the front-ae'dge-ofthe flap being, then adapted to rest on the seat back), the coasting hinge elements beinggof. askind which are readily separable and there being; two sets of the said complementary hinge: members: of which one; is? inside the; head and: f01i11$8 when the head is: erectedand the other is outside; the head: (with referencez-to the erected: position of. the heady and'for use when the-headzis stowed:

Obviously; however; instead. of using separablecoactinghin'gemembers the rear edge of the flap and the outeredgeof the' well at the rear could be provided 'with coacting elementsof press fastener devices or" other-readily separable at:--

tachment means; the said oute'redge of 'tlie' well;

3 Claims; (Cl. 296-37) asbefore, having two sets of the elements Addi tionally, the forward edge efthe flapcould b'ezat' tache'din a similar way'tothe'seat-baclc'.

Preferably the ends: of the fi'aphaveupstanding ledges toprevent small anticles from falling into the well at the sides thereof.

According to a: further feature therea-rerigid side covers, for covering the well at --the sides;' which; when the head 'i's lowered, are attachable? at the rear to the said flap and are; elsewhere? attachable to the said' body. When; the-head er'ected; these rigid side coverscan be stowed in the hood-receivi'ng well.-

Preferably the side" covers are arranged for their rear ends to-overlap theadjacent endsi-Qfi' the flap and those parts can be: detachablyconnected together, as" by fastenihg' devices of the press-stud type- According to prior U; S. specificatiom Nix 758,154, new Patent No; 2,529,4581grantedi'November '7, 1950, there is provided;fbr'aimctor c'ar" body of thetyp'e set forth, a headiwhi'clr includes a main hoop-fast with the fabric: portioir and? which is pivoted 'by its'legs to the'moton-car body; the legs ofthe hoop having anlelementofr a lock'eing means, for' coacti'cn with; a spring-pressed: latch supported within the well: attheifront; for? holding-the head erected; Accordingztb azstillfilrther feature of the present'invention; the rigid? side coversare-equipped with .lock'elementsetsimilar to those of the legs ofthe-hoop) foncoantiom' with the said spri'ng-pressed latches-when the? hood has been lowered.

The flap and the rigid side covers can: hemade from any suitable. material (e; g;,. from sheet metal soz-thata desired contour'can be applied; to.-'

them easily by quantity production methods and, if desired; they canbe garnished to suitthe appearance; of the remainder of the; motor-car;-

In the accompanying drawings Figurel is :a perspectiveview of "a portion offthe interior, at the rear,.of a motorrcarbodmfwithi" the headerected andshowin g; the flap in the"po= sition in which it s'erves'as a'shelf Figure 2 is a sectionalvi'ew, to-aiiargerscal'e;

on theline 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view; to-a somewhat smaller scale than Figure 1, from the outside of the body with thehead in it's stowed-position and covered 'by' theflap, one" of the'rigidside covers" being shown in position and" the other one disconnected;

Figured is a View correspondingwith Figurez but drawn to aslightly smallerscale and illus' tratingamodified construction; "and 1 Figures and 6 show how each of the rigid side covers can be held in position by the springpressed latch of the said prior specification, the position of the main hoop of the head being shown in Figure 5, and the details of the springpressed latch in Figure 6.

Referring to the construction of Figures 1 to 3 the motor-car body H has a well extending behind the rear seat l2 and along the sides to the region of the rear edge of the door openings at each side, the rear part of the well being indicated at l3 and the side portions at [4.

As shown by Figure 2 the seat back is hinged at [5 to a stationary part of the body so that it can be swung forward as indicated by the chain dotted lines, the seat back having a stop l6 fast therewith for coaction with an abutment I1 fast with the body for limiting rearward swinging of the seat back.

The bottom edge of the head fabric, indicated at 18, is secured to the body II as by being trapped beneath a wooden waist rail I9 which is nailed in position, and some of the various hoops by which the head fabric is held erected are indicated at 20, being pivotally supported from the body within the portions M of the well.

A rigid flap 2| is hinged at 22 to the top of the seat back so that when the head is in its stowed position the flap can rest on the waist rail (there being, of course, one thickness of the head fabric between the flap and the waist rail), there preferably being a resilient means, such as the spring 50, for holding the flap firmly down onto the waist rail. In this position of'the head two rigid side covers 23 can be placed in position to cover the tops of the portions [4 of the well, the forward ends of these rigid side covers having means, presently to be described, for securing them in position, and their rear ends being adapted for securing to the ends of the flap 2| as by press-fastener devices 24.

When it is desired to erect the head the rigid side covers are first removed and then the seat back is hinged forward to permit the flap to hinge downwardly towards the seat back (i. e., clockwise in Figure 2) the head is then erected in a normal manner and, after stowing the side covers in the well the flap is swung into the position shown in Figure 2, in which it provides a shelf for reception of small articles. For the latter purpose each end of the flap has an upstanding ledge 25 for preventing the articles from falling into the uncovered side portions 14 of the well.

In the construction of Figure 4 there is emplayed, instead of the hinged flap 2|, a flap 2la having elements 26 of press-fastener devices at its forward and rear edges for alternative coaction with complementary press-fastener elements 21 or 28 on the seat back and 29 or 30 on the body at the rear of the well, When the head is erected the elements 26 are engaged With the coacting elements 21 and 29 to provide the shelf, and when the head is stowed the elements 26 are engaged with the coacting elements 28 and 30 to cover the rear of the well.

Referring to Figures 5 and 6 each of the limbs of an inverted U-shaped main hoop 3| of the head is fast with an arm 32 which is pivoted, through a hole 33, to the body within the adjacent portion I4 of the Well. Each arm 32 has a bullet-nosed lock element 34 having a lateral notch 35. When the main hoop 3! is erected the element 34 passes through aligned holes of flanges 36 and 37 of a lock housing 38 fast with the body and the notch 4 35 is engaged by a spring-pressed latch 39 to hold the hoop erected.

According to the present invention, each of the side covers 23 is provided with a siimlar bulletnosed member 40 having a lateral notch 4| for engagement by the spring-pressed latch 39 for holding it in position, the main'hoop 3| together with its arm 32, of course, being accommodated within the well when the head is in its stowed position. The latch 39 thus serves a dual purpose.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. For the body of a drop-head motor-car of the kind having a well, for receiving the head when lowered, which extends across the back and part-way round the sides of the passenger compartment, and of which the forward side at the rear is defined by the back of the adjacent seat, the head being foldable and mainly of a' pliable fabric having its rear bottom edge fast with the body in rear of the well; a cover for the well comprising a rigid flap, elements of disconnectable fastener devices secured to said flap adjacent its forward and rear transverse edges, two parallelly-spaced sets of coacting fastener elements arranged transversely of the body on said seat back, two similarly parallelly-spaced sets of coacting fastener elements arranged transversely "of said body to be fast with the latter at the rear of said well and respectively on opposite sides of the pliable fabric where the latter is made fast with the body, the rearward coacting fastener elements of each said set being for coaction with the fastener elements of said flap for securing the latter in covering relationship to the well when the head is in stowed position with the pliable fabric covering the forward set of coacting fastener elements which are fast with the body in rear of the well, and the forward coacting fastener elements of each said set being forcoaction with the fastener elements of said flap for holding the latter in position to act as a shelf for small articles when said head is in the erected position and the rearward set of coacting fastener elements which are fast with the body in the rear of the well are thus outside the erected head.

2. A cover, according to claim 1 and for the head-receiving Well of a motor-car body of the kind which is provided, with a head-supporting hoop which is pivoted to the body and provided with a locking element for engagement by a coacting locking element fast with the body for holding the head erected, a pair of separate rigid side covers for the sides of the well, means for removably attaching the rearward ends of said side covers to said flap, the forward end of each of said side covers equipped with an element of a locking means for engaging thesaid coacting locking elements, when the head is stowed, for attaching said side covers at their forward ends to said body.

3. For the body of a drop-head motor-car of the kind having a well, for receiving the head when lowered, which extends across the back and part-way round the sides of the passenger compartment, and of which the forward side at the rear is defined by the back of the adjacent seat; a cover for the well comprising a rigid flap, means for supporting the forward transverse edge of said flap from said seat back, means for supporting the rear transverse edge of said flap from said body at the rear of said Well, said supporting means permitting said flap to'be'moved into an uncovering position for enabling said head 5 a to be moved into and out of said well, and said REFERENCES CITED supporting means being operative to support Sald The following references are of record in the flap as a shelf for small articles when said head file of this patent: is in the erected position, and an upward projection adjacent each end of said flap for pre- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS venting articles placed thereon from falling into Number Name Date the well. 1,273,090 Powell July 16, 1918 1,796,918 Bresee Mar. 17, 1931 O H W OR 1,988,346 Wagner Jan. 15, 1935 10 1,990,848 Velo Feb. 12, 1935 

